The School of Movies Archive

[Digital Drift 2015]

The Marvel Cinematic Universe reunites the whole team and then adds some more heroes and super-antagonists for good measure. Can such an immense collection of colourful personalities possibly be threaded cohesively into an even more elaborate juggling act that matches the original?

Once again we go deep on the characters, outlining what this means for the history and how it functions as a film. 

Joining Sharon and I once again are Joshua Garrity of Cane and rinse, Jerome McIntosh of GameBurst and Lorin Grieve of A Year of Steam. 

The next story in the New Century universes begins this week, so look for the rather special first episode of Tiger’s Eye on iTunes and please do give us a review for Secret Rooms if you enjoyed it. That will help this ongoing audio drama series of ours gain visibility, traction and word of mouth. 

If you love these shows support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/alexandershaw

Guests:

Joshua Garrity of Cane and Rinse

Jerome McIntosh of GameBurst

Lorin Grieve of A Year of Steam

[Digital Drift 2015]

As we gear up for Avengers: Age of Ultron, we look back on the only film focusing on one of them that we haven’t yet reviewed.

So let’s delve into Ang Lee’s Hulk, one of the first HUGE Marvel movies and one that strove to be oh-so-grown-up.

If you love these shows support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/alexandershaw

[Digital Drift 2015]

Returning to the welcoming bosom of Marvel, Sharon and I take a good hard look at the 2003 attempt at bringing The Man Without Fear to our screens.

Fox rather unwisely competed with Spider-Man at the time, leading to a rather troubled production, hence the hastily cobbled-together millennial rubber bouncy jumping action and the vast disparity between the somewhat nonsensical theatrical edition and the little-seen but more naratively-sound director’s cut.

And then of course there’s Ben Affleck as Matt Murdoch, slaloming between gravely-grim and smirking sex-pest. The costumes which range from the outlandish to party-wear, Michael Clarke Duncan’s show-stealing turn as the Kingpin and yes, that playground fight. We always rather liked this movie.

It was made with comic book geeks in mind and filled with references, winks and nods. The soundtrack is very much of its time and punctuates this podcast and the film has become very dated when held up against modern superhero fare. BUT we don’t think it deserves the scorn heaped upon it. Certainly not enough of a reason to dismiss Affleck as Batman, when this is actually pretty accurate to Frank Miller’s Daredevil.

[Digital Drift 2015]

We round out the series as it stands right now. The events of the film itself as the action thrill-ride it was originally intended take a back seat to what it ultimately became, with this poignant farewell to Paul Walker.

Neil Taylor returns for what may have been the most challenging film to express our feelings about in words.

If you love these shows support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/alexandershaw

Guest:

Neil Taylor of TheKidDogg

[Digital Drift 2015]

We reach the point when everything really slots into place and the F&F series reaches its potential at long last. This is one of the most astonishing, enjoyable movies about cars and family that you will ever see.   

Neil Taylor of GameBurst is back on the team again. We’ll roll on over again in a couple of weeks to cover the seventh movie and close this out for now, but this has been one revelatory road trip for us all.

If you love these shows support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/alexandershaw

Guest:

Neil Taylor of TheKidDogg

[Digital Drift 2015]

We’re back as the F&F series cranks into gear and becomes what it was meant to; a series of heist movies with a colourful, lovable cast of recurring characters and amazing stunts.

This was a case of all the pieces finally slotting into place. Enter The Rock as a powerhouse of a lawman named Hobbs, finally giving the films an antagonist worthy of Toretto. Re-enter Roman, Tej, Han, Gisele, Leo, Santos (played by Don Omar, who sang on several pieces of music accompanying the series, as did Ludacris).

Neil Taylor of GameBurst is back to ride with us again. You also get to hear me go into further detail as to why Power/Rangers was so offensive to my sensibilities. The podcast culminates in a lengthy essay read by Sharon, analyzing the male protagonists: ‘The Fast and the Fatherless’ written by Pastabagel on the Partial objects blog.

Guest:

Neil Taylor of TheKidDogg

[Digital Drift 2015]

Continuing our road trip through the F&F series, we get to the detour away from the main cast that was initially shunned by audiences but in retrospect is rather excellent as a stand-alone movie.

We move on to the return to the main cast that was initially embraced by audiences but in retrospect is dour and uneventful. Find out what drifting REALLY means.

If you love these shows support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/alexandershaw

Guest:

Neil Taylor of TheKidDogg

[Digital Drift 2015]

We’re joined by Neil Taylor of GameBurst to review two movies from one of his very favourite series. When we recorded this first show we hadn’t yet seen 5 or 6 (Sharon hadn’t seen 3 or 4 either) so it’s something of a discovery process for us.

Find out over the course of the next few episodes if we’re just middling on the car porn, jiggling auto-floozies and machismo-masking-vulnerability or in fact if we end up flippin’ LOVING The Fast and the Furious.

If you love these shows support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/alexandershaw

Guest:

Neil Taylor of TheKidDogg

[Digital Drift 2015]

Here’s the second part of our analysis of the Twilight saga. There’s some really silly and occasionally genuinely troubling material in here, but also some surprisingly heartfelt moments that caught us offguard.

If you love these shows support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/alexandershaw

[Digital Drift 2015]

To coincide with the release of Fifty Shades of Grey, Sharon and I went back to the source material with a pair of shows we’ve been sitting on for a year! We had to put Pinocchio on hod for this one but he’ll be back in two weeks. 

In this initial volume we review the first three installments of the Twilight Saga. 

It’s my theory that these books and films are the Nickelback of the literary and cinematic worlds, hated on general principle. Partly because in the eyes of many they pervert the mythos of the vampire, daring to make the suckers sparkle in the sun rather than exploding. Partly because of their immense popularity, which always creates a counter-culture. 

So Sharon and I dived in attempting to review the films themselves in a vacuum. Those who hate the films may hate this podcast because we’re rather kind and enthusiastic. Those that love them will hate this podcast because we call them on the rubbish, the weaker elements and the more troubling aspects (especially in the two-part finale of Breaking Dawn). So welcome to a show nobody is going to love.

If you love these shows support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/alexandershaw